It’s not very difficult to observe whether your plants are well adapted to their location and the cultural care they are receiving. Learn how identifying certain symptoms can help prevent problems and diseases.
- Symptom: Stems grow excessively, older leaves become elongated and faded, while new ones don’t develop properly.
- Cause: Insufficient light. Excess nitrogen.
- What to Do: Move the plant to a brighter location. Reduce the use of fertilizers or decrease their frequency of application.
- Symptom: Older leaves curl; new leaves fail to develop.
- Cause: Excess light.
- What to Do: Place the plant in a more shaded area or stop using fertilizers to promote growth.
- Symptom: Stems become swollen, dark, and rot; lower leaves bend and wilt; the surface of the soil remains constantly wet.
- Cause: Excessive watering.
- What to Do: Avoid overwatering or watering too frequently. Only water when the potting soil is dry. Ensure the pot’s drainage hole is not blocked. Do not let drained water sit beneath the pot for more than 30 minutes. Reduce watering even more during the plants’ dormant period.
- Symptom: Leaf tips darken, and leaves eventually wilt. Lower leaves turn yellow and fall off.
- Cause: Insufficient water.
- What to Do: Water until excess water drains from the pot’s drainage hole. Do not water again until the soil has dried.
- Symptom: Leaf edges curl and turn brown.
- Cause: Lack of humidity.
- What to Do: Increase humidity by placing pots on a tray with pebbles and water or inside a container with damp sphagnum moss. Mist the leaves.
- Symptom: The plant doesn’t flower, produces only a few flowers, and has an excess of leaves. Sometimes, a greenish layer appears on the soil’s surface.
- Cause: Excessive fertilizer, mainly nitrogen.
- What to Do: Fertilize less frequently, using half the amount recommended on the packaging, especially in winter when the plant receives less light. Avoid nitrogen-rich fertilizers during the growth period. Do not fertilize during the plant’s dormant season.
- Symptom: Lower leaves turn yellow and fall off; new leaves fail to develop, and stems cease to grow.
- Cause: Lack of nutrients.
- What to Do: Fertilize regularly during the plant’s growth phase.
- Symptom: Leaves turn yellow, curl, and wilt.
- Cause: Excessive heat.
- What to Do: Move the plant to a cooler location.
- Symptom: Yellow or brown spots appear on the leaves.
- Cause: Cold water on leaves.
- What to Do: When watering the plants, use room temperature water or slightly warmer.
- Symptom: Yellowish or brownish white spots appear on the leaves.
- Cause: Sunburn.
- What to Do: Provide more shade for the plant by filtering sunlight with curtains or moving it near a window that doesn’t receive direct sunlight during the hottest hours of the day.
- Symptom: A white layer appears on the soil’s surface or on the edges and sides of clay pots. Leaves touching the edge of the pot wilt, rot, and fall off.
- Cause: Accumulation of salts from fertilizers.
- What to Do: Water the plant thoroughly to dissolve the salts. After half an hour, water it again to expel the salts through the drainage hole. Clean the sides and edges of the pot thoroughly and coat these parts with melted wax.
- Symptom: Roots fill the entire space of the pot and emerge from the drainage hole. The plant wilts or produces only small leaves.
- Cause: Small pot.
- What to Do: Repot in a larger pot.
